RandySF
RandySF's JournalNearly 80K Sign Up for Health Plans Through Covered California
During a board meeting on Thursday, Covered California officials announced that nearly 80,000 state residents have enrolled in health coverage through the exchange, Kaiser Health News reports (Gorman/Varney, Kaiser Health News, 11/22).
In November, an average of 2,700 residents enrolled through the exchange each day, compared with 700 daily in October (Thomas/Pollack, New York Times, 11/21).
The health plans with the highest enrollment were:
Anthem Blue Cross, with 8,658 sign-ups;
Kaiser Permanente, with 8,250 sign-ups;
Blue Shield of California, with 7,903 sign-ups; and
Health Net, with 4,839 sign-ups.
http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2013/11/22/nearly-80k-sign-up-for-health-plans-through-covered-california
The ACA is working in Kentucky
This is how things are going in Kentucky: As conservatives argued that the new health-care law will wreck the economy, as liberals argued it will save billions, as many Americans raged at losing old health plans and some analysts warned that a disproportionate influx of the sick and the poor could wreck the new health-care model, Lively was telling Noble something he did not expect to hear.
“All right,” she said. “We’ve got you eligible for Medicaid.”
Places such as Breathitt County, in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Kentucky, are driving the state’s relatively high enrollment figures, which are helping to drive national enrollment figures as the federal health exchange has floundered. In a state where 15 percent of the population, about 640,000 people, are uninsured, 56,422 have signed up for new health-care coverage, with 45,622 of them enrolled in Medicaid and the rest in private health plans, according to figures released by the governor’s office Friday.
If the health-care law is having a troubled rollout across the country, Kentucky — and Breathitt County in particular — shows what can happen in a place where things are working as the law’s supporters envisioned.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-rural-kentucky-health-care-debate-takes-back-seat-as-people-sign-up-for-insurance/2013/11/23/449dc6e0-5465-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html
Police officer who made mentally ill black man ‘dance like a chimp’ removed from duty
The Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan police officer who allegedly filmed himself humiliating a mentally challenged black man has been removed from active duty and is expected to face disciplinary charges next week.
The video, which the unnamed officer posted on various social media sites, allegedly shows the officer demanding a mentally challenged black man to “dance like a chimp.”
It is unclear whether the unnamed officer is solely responsible for the video, or if other officers were involved. The Grosse Pointe Park Police Department did inform its officers that they are prohibited from posting videos from personal cell phones on social media while on duty.
City officials declined to comment on the investigation until it concluded, but a public relations expert hired by the police department apologized on its behalf late last week.
“My friends, my neighbors and residents are all appalled by what has occurred,” Greg Bowens said. “This is not a true representation of who we are in Grosse Pointe Park. We are working very hard at getting to the bottom of it.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/24/police-officer-who-humiliated-mentally-ill-man-removed-from-duty/
Friend Says Congressman Bragged About Buying Cocaine In Colombia
A former colleague of Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL), who announced he was taking a leave of absence Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to a cocain possession charge, said the future politician used to boast about the cocaine he purchased while traveling in Colombia when they worked together on a Florida talk radio show. In an interview with the Associated Press, Mike Adams, who was a producer on the show Radel hosted, "Daybreak," said the two regularly discussed cocaine and Radel's backpacking trips in Colombia.
"I would mention, 'How was the stuff?'" Adams said of his conversations with Radel. "And he would say, 'Oh my God, it was phenomenal. Nothing like you get here.'"
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/friend-says-congressman-bragged-about-buying-cocaine-in-colombia
Bill Maher: Liz Cheney threw sister under the bus
Liberal comedian Bill Maher slammed Liz Cheney Friday for “throwing your sister under the bus” over the issue of gay marriage in her bid for the Wyoming Senate seat,
“She came out against what her own sister does, she came out against gay marriage, thinking that this would win conservative votes,” Maher said on his HBO program “Real Time with Bill Maher,” adding Cheney “misjudged” the people of Wyoming.
“They always accuse liberals of being the ones who don’t care about the flyover states, they don’t know what real America is like. Actually, she’s the one who doesn’t know what real America is like because I’m sure there are a lot of Wyoming people who find gay marriage icky, but what they found even ickier was throwing your sister under the bus to win an election,” Maher said.
Maher also hit Cheney on her residency status in Wyoming saying, “she hasn’t lived [there] for maybe ever? Maybe as a child? So she’s a carpetbagger.”
It’s been a rough week for Cheney’s campaign. After stating her opposition to gay marriage on “Fox News Sunday,” Liz’s sister Mary and Mary’s wife Heather Poe criticized Liz’s position on Facebook. Mary later in the week said she is not supporting her sister’s bid in the Republican primary.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/bill-maher-liz-cheney-mary-cheney-gay-marriage-100286.html#ixzz2lba2DqOV
Boehner Sabotaged Own ACA Enrollment - Placed Official Helper on Hold for 35 Minutes
Late last week Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) made a big show of trying but failing to sign up for Obamacare because of the notoriously buggy website. (Actually he appears to have been using the DC exchange site.) He even did a special tweet noting his hopeless situation. Not terribly surprising given the frustrating experiences so many have had.
Actually, it turns out he had successfully enrolled and got a call confirming that about an hour after his tweet. But it gets better.
According to Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for the local NBC affiliate in Washington, reports that a DC Health Care exchange representative actually tried to contact Boehner by phone during the enrollment process but was put on hold for 35 minutes, after which time the representative finally hung up.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/boehner-fails-to-fail-on-obamacare
Judge Calls 13-Year-Old Girl Who Was Sexually Assaulted by a 41-Year-Old "Predatory"
This week in the UK, Judge Nigel Peters gave a suspended sentence to 41 year-old Neil Wilson after he pleaded guilty to “making extreme pornographic images and one count of sexual activity” with a 13 year-old girl. The judge explained his leniency as stemming from the fact that “the girl was predatory and was egging you on.” During the trial, the prosecution had declared the girl was “sexually experienced” and that “She appeared to look around 14 or 15 and had the mental age of a 14 or 15 year old despite being younger than that. There was sexual activity but it was not of Mr. Wilson’s doing, you might say it was forced upon him despite being older and stronger than her.” Law enforcement also found “a stash of images and videos depicting child abuse and bestiality” in Wilson’s home, but sure, the 13 year-old girl is the predator here.
http://www.alternet.org/judge-calls-13-year-old-girl-who-was-sexually-assaulted-41-year-old-predatory?page=0%2C0
"Cooking Attracts Roaches"
Convenience food is just that. And we are not allowed many conveniences. Especially since the Patriot Act passed, it's hard to get a bank account. But without one, you spend a lot of time figuring out where to cash a check and get money orders to pay bills. Most motels now have a no-credit-card-no-room policy. I wandered around SF for five hours in the rain once with nearly a thousand dollars on me and could not rent a room even if I gave them a $500 cash deposit and surrendered my cell phone to the desk to hold as surety.
Nobody gives enough thought to depression. You have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired. We will never feel hopeful. We will never get a vacation. Ever. We know that the very act of being poor guarantees that we will never not be poor. It doesn't give us much reason to improve ourselves. We don't apply for jobs because we know we can't afford to look nice enough to hold them. I would make a super legal secretary, but I've been turned down more than once because I "don't fit the image of the firm," which is a nice way of saying "gtfo, pov." I am good enough to cook the food, hidden away in the kitchen, but my boss won't make me a server because I don't "fit the corporate image." I am not beautiful. I have missing teeth and skin that looks like it will when you live on B12 and coffee and nicotine and no sleep. Beauty is a thing you get when you can afford it, and that's how you get the job that you need in order to be beautiful. There isn't much point trying.
Cooking attracts roaches. Nobody realizes that. I've spent a lot of hours impaling roach bodies and leaving them out on toothpick pikes to discourage others from entering. It doesn't work, but is amusing.
"Free" only exists for rich people. It's great that there's a bowl of condoms at my school, but most poor people will never set foot on a college campus. We don't belong there. There's a clinic? Great! There's still a copay. We're not going. Besides, all they'll tell you at the clinic is that you need to see a specialist, which seriously? Might as well be located on Mars for how accessible it is. "Low-cost" and "sliding scale" sounds like "money you have to spend" to me, and they can't actually help you anyway.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html
Christian militia calls for Obama’s assassination on Facebook
The Christian American Patriots Militia is openly calling for the assassination of President Barack Obama on their Facebook page. The Christian militia calls Obama a “dictator,” and claims the “authority to kill Obama comes from the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution.”
According to a report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) dated Nov. 22, the U.S. Secret Service is aware that Everest Wilhelmsen, leader of the Christian American Patriots Militia, is calling for Obama’s assassination.
The Christian American Patriots Militia sent out a post to the more than 1400 members of their Facebook group declaring the militia now has the “authority” to assassinate President Barack Obama:
“We now have authority to shoot Obama, i.e., to kill him,” Wilhelmsen wrote on the group’s Facebook page.
The following is an excerpt from the disturbing post, dated Nov. 19:
“The authority to kill Obama comes from the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution: He is levying war on the United States and aiding and comforting our foreign enemies – the 2nd Amendment gives us the right and duty (authority) to engage an enemy of the United States that does so with the design to reduce us under absolute Despotism. I would be very surprised, if Obama does not leave Washington DC today (Nov. 19th) … never to return, if he is not dead within the month.”
http://www.examiner.com/article/christian-militia-calls-for-obama-s-assassination-on-facebook
I knew there was a good reason not to elect her to the SF Board.
A San Mateo County court has granted a restraining order against Jaynry Mak Young, the chairwoman for the San Francisco Community Youth Center, following her husband's accusations she abused him and their two young children.
According to court documents, on April 19, 2013, Clifford Young filed a petition for a restraining order and sole custody of their two children, Tanner, 7, and Elle, 19 months, alleging dozens of scenarios in which his wife physically and verbally abused the three of them.
Specifically, on March 13 2012, Young claims Jaynry "threatened to cut off Tanner's hand if he did not complete his Kumon math packet," according to court documents.
Per the documents, on March 26, 2012, Tanner again refused to do his Kumon assignment; Jaynry threatened to pinch Tanner if he did not finish his work. Tanner threw his pencil on the ground and Jaynry dragged him into the kitchen. "I came into the kitchen and saw Jaynry holding one of Tanner's wrists in one hand and a butcher knife in the other," Clifford stated in court records. After seeing her husband, the document continues, Jaynry put the knife down then slapped Tanner across the face........
Jaynry Mak Young, a Hillsborough resident, is currently the chairwoman, Community Youth Center in San Francisco and the chair of the San Francisco Women's Political Committee Advisory Board. She formally worked as a legislative aide for former San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma and was a staff member to Congressman Tom Lantos, (D) San Mateo. She also ran for San Francisco County Supervisor in 2006.
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/11/jaynry_mak_young_former_sf_pol.php
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
Home country: USA
Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
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